Corporate Advocacy Program: The best way to manage and repair your business reputation. Hiding negative complaints is only a Band-Aid. Consumers want to see how businesses take care of business. All businesses will get complaints. How those businesses take care of those complaints is what separates good businesses from bad businesses.

I was recommended to go to World Auto Parts by a mechanic who does excellent work and had no knowledge of the hell I was going to go through with this place. After his recommendation, I called to inquire about the price and availability for rear rotors and brakes for my automobile.

I spoke with someone and gave them the year, make and model of my vehicle. He, in turn, gave me both the price and availability and I couldn't believe the price he gave me (unbelievably low for the make and model I have). So, I called back twenty minutes later and got someone else. He gave me totally different prices for everything. That should've been red flag #1. However, due to the mechanics advice, I proceeded with the inquiry.

The next day, I went in to purchase the items, confirmed they had the right parts for my vehicle and left feeling like this was a great place to do business. However, much to my dismay, the parts they had given me were the incorrect parts. This, after them going through their catalog and saying I have the correct parts.

Nevertheless, the next day, I went back to exchange my products for the correct product. I didn't have my receipt and the correct product cost $35 per rotor more. So, they stood to generate another $70 in profit for exchanging the incorrect product for the right product. Due to the fact that I didn't have my receipt, they told me that I couldn't do the exchange and that I could purchase the correct product, without getting any of the difference back.

Everyone that was involved in the transaction knew that I had been in there the previous day. And, when I came back in to return the product, the guy that conducted the transaction remembered me before I even spoke to him. He proceeded to tell the gentleman who initially gave me the information on phone that the wrong parts had been issued.

Well, after he (the guy who rang me up) accused me of not knowing the year of my vehicle, I asked to speak with the manager. The manager was the second individual that I spoke with the day before who quoted me different prices. My conversation with him was to no avail. So, I asked to speak with the owner. He wouldn't even give me his name and he gave me a card with the store number on it and the manager's name. By this time, I'm really feeling bellicose. After not getting anywhere with any of these people, I felt it would be better to warn others than to talk to someone else who's very inapt in customer service skills.

"The pen is mightier than the sword" (Edward George Bulwer Lytton (1803-1873).

P.S. I ended up purchasing the correct parts from a more reputable, professional, friendly and customer service oriented establishment.

Corporate Advocacy Program: The best way to manage and repair your business reputation. Hiding negative complaints is only a Band-Aid. Consumers want to see how businesses take care of business. All businesses will get complaints. How those businesses take care of those complaints is what separates good businesses from bad businesses.